Here Come Cartooniverses! Cartoon Network Is Moving Beyond TV

Cartoon Network

Since the early ’90s, Cartoon Network has been a mainstay of cable TV—and in that time become a trove of iconic characters. From early staples like The Powerpuff Girls to Adventure Time‘s Jake and Finn, the company has built a literal *ahem* cartoon network. But networks aren’t what they used to be, so Cartoon Network is moving beyond the small screen … to an even smaller one.

Through its artist incubator Cartoon Network Studios, the company launches its first original mobile game today. OK K.O.! Lakewood Plaza Turbo has a CN pedigree (it was developed by Steven Universe’s Ian Jones-Quartey and coproduced with Regular Show storyboard artist Toby Jones) and sounds like exactly what you’d expect from the network: child superheroes, robo-villains, colorful scenes, and a flick at evil superstores trying to destroy small businesses for the good guys. But the game represents much more than just CN bringing its sensibility to mobile gaming.

OK K.O. marks a significant shift for Cartoon Network: it’s the first time the network has opened a new universe of characters outside of its TV shows. And it’s the beginning of a new strategy for the company. “We’re no longer just about creating TV series, we’re really about creating animated worlds,” Rob Sorcher, Cartoon Network’s chief content officer, says. “And so we want the ability to unfold those [worlds] onto any platform—and ultimately all platforms.”

Any (And All) Mediums

OK K.O.’s story started much like those of other Cartoon Network characters. Jones-Quartey developed the world of Lakewood Plaza Turbo as a pilot short that was part of Cartoon Network Studios’ story artist program. The program, Sorcher says, often has been a pathway for the development of TV series in the past—but this time, instead of developing a show based on K.O. and his friends, Cartoon Networks decided to use the Lakewood Plaza universe as an opportunity to try something new.

“OK K.O. is part of a concerted effort to reinvent our process of content creation,” Sorcher says. “It’s the expectation of a younger emerging audience that characters and worlds are there to be engaged with, commented on, built upon, contributed to, and interacted with. The world is no longer linear to a young audience. So why would we continue to create content that way?”

Sift through that marketing speak, and you get a truth that’s undeniable. Lines between shows, games, and recess make-believe are falling by the wayside. Whether franchises like Skylanders and Disney Infinity that bridge toys and games, or the cartoon expansion of the Star Wars franchise with shows like Star Wars Rebels, the power of a consistent storytelling universe has emerged as an increasingly popular narrative model—especially among kids. (Cartoon Network’s main audience, not surprisingly, ranges in age from 6 to 11 and skews heavily to young boys.) And characters are what help an audience cross those lines from medium to medium.

Introducing new characters via a game—and in doing so, privileging a universe over a single narrative—is new for the network, and it may mean an opportunity to experiment creatively without business pressure for now.

So could OK K.O. one day end up with its own TV series? Sure, but that’s not the point. Instead of starting by crafting a TV show, Cartoon Network developed characters and possible narratives, while collaborating with animators as well as game developers—with a focus on how those would play out on a range of digital platforms. “When it’s ready to go through any medium,” Sorcher says, “it’s better prepared.”

In the past being a TV network with popular shows was enough, but entertainment companies no longer seem to believe that’s the case. Every network is trying to figure out how to appeal to younger, digitally native viewers, and many are exploring how to do that by building a so-called “multi-platform experience.” “Our goal is to go beyond any one screen and to, in fact, create … the intentional immersive worlds that speak to this current generation and to reinvent the model,” says company president Christina Miller, who joined Cartoon Network a year and a half ago. “We’re looking to the future.”

Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network isn’t the first company to acknowledge that its future lies beyond the small screen. Its more adult counterpart Adult Swim has launched several successful games based on its shows. Meanwhile, competitors like Disney and Nickelodeon have aggressively developed online games for kids. Cartoon Network already has games based on popular shows like Adventure Time.

But introducing new characters via a game—and in doing so, privileging a universe over a single narrative—is new for the network, and, at least for now, may mean an opportunity to experiment creatively without business pressure. “I’m less concerned about what the economic models are at this point in time, because I know that we as a company have multiple ways to monetize this,” Sorcher says. “In the worst case scenario, we have a hit TV show.”

Multiple Players

Part of Cartoon Network’s shift beyond TV will mean tapping into more than just animators and storytellers who know good TV. Later this month, Cartoon Network will host a 48-hour game jam in Portland, Oregon with 200 developers, animators, graphic artists, designers, and musicians. The goal isn’t just to encourage those artists and developers to create more games, but to do so within the OK K.O. universe. Cartoon Network hopes the event will help inform the development of future games; one winning team will be awarded a contract to develop its mobile game idea for the network.

Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network always has been fan- and artist-focused, Miller says, but focusing on the universes means the artists and fans become even more central. That is part of the reason why the company is opening some of what it’s working on with the game jam, which, the company hopes, will also allow more diverse view points to become part of the development process early on. “The more you allow people in,” Miller adds, “you see they do desire to make some of this their own.”

“Putting the artists at the center and reinventing the model is what we’re after,” Miller says. “Might it change the economics? Yes. But it also increases the opportunities.” After all, that hope is what the future of entertainment is all about.

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